


An Elegant Weapon For a More Civilized Age

by Shergar



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: BAMF Magnus Bane, Crack, M/M, Magnus Bane's Spellsword, Magnus without magic, Simon is a nerd, its almost a lightsaber, magnus has a magical sword
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:21:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29525634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shergar/pseuds/Shergar
Summary: “I hate to interrupt, but can someone tell me what a spellsword is and how it is in fact, not a lightsaber? Because it looks and sounds a lot like a lightsaber.”
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 12
Kudos: 73





	An Elegant Weapon For a More Civilized Age

**Author's Note:**

> Don't expect anything but pure crack.
> 
> Sometimes you get bitten by a radioactive plot bunny. It just be like that sometimes.

A knock on the front door of the loft had Alec throwing back the rest of his coffee with a sigh. Magnus looked up from the book he’d been reading on the couch and back towards his boyfriend. “Are you...expecting someone?” Ever since the loss of his magic, he’d stopped getting random visitors calling on their High Warlock.

“It’s Simon,” the Shadowhunter explained, “We’re short-handed for patrols this week since we had a handful of people injured in that attack a few days ago, so Izzy suggested I take him with me. I’m still wondering how she got me to agree to it.” Probably her little sister powers of suggestion or some well-timed puppy dog eyes. 

Alec remained in place, trying to glare a hole through the front door as a knock sounded again. Magnus set his book on the coffee table and got up to answer. “Ah, Sherwin. So nice of you to join us. I had no idea that you were coming.”

“Hi Magnus, is Alec -” He noticed the Shadowhunter leaning against the doorframe. “Oh, hey Alec. Are you ready to go?”

“A few ground rules first,” Alec growled, “1 - You do everything I say. If I tell you to jump on one foot and make monkey sounds, you do it. I’m the one who spent years training for demon attacks. This isn’t like your video games. 2. You might be a vampire, but try to stay out of my way. I can’t be looking out for you, myself, and the mundanes. 3 -”

“Alexander, can I speak with you for a moment?” Magnus interrupted, pulling the shadowhunter towards the kitchen. 

“What, Magnus?” Alec was irritated but whether it was by his interruption, the situation, or Simon’s mere presence, Magnus couldn’t tell. 

“You’re scaring the boy. I’m sure a patrol with Simon won’t be that bad.”

“It’s not just that, Magnus,” he said with a sigh, “I take this seriously. He should be with Jace and Izzy if he just wants to tag along. I have actual work to do.”

Magnus paused, he knew how frustrated Alec could get with his siblings’ unbridled disregard for the rules. “Then how about I go with you two?”

“Magnus, you can’t -” Alec started, falling into silence instantly when Magnus held up a finger. 

“If you’re about to tell me that I won’t be useful because I don’t have my magic, I urge you to reconsider that sentiment.” 

Alec’s eyes widened and he rushed to correct himself. “No, of course not. I  _ know _ you can take care of yourself. It’s just - babysitting Simon is going to require 98% of my attention and you deserve more than 2%.”

“I’m an adult. I don’t think I’ll wither away if you aren’t paying attention to me for five minutes.” He might sulk, a little, but he could deal with it. 

Alec seemingly realized that this argument was one he wouldn’t win. “Magnus, we don’t even have a decent weapon for you. Everything here, besides what is currently strapped to my body, is decorative,” he replied, glancing at the various swords hanging on the wall or sitting haphazardly on a shelf. 

“Ah!” Magnus said, giving his hand a squeeze and moving back towards the bedroom. “Well, I have a solution for that, I believe.” He returned a few minutes later carrying a nearly cylindrical piece of silver adorned in a decorative floral pattern. He stared at it for a moment, frowning, before smacking it on his palm a couple of times. After a small bit of effort, a ghostly blue blade that was slightly curved and tapered to a wicked-looking point emerged from the hilt. Magnus looked victorious.

“Is that a lightsaber?” Simon asked shocked, his voice nearly squeaking in question as his eyes lit up in excitement once he saw what was in Magnus’ hand.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Simon. There are no such things as lightsabers. This is a spellsword.” Magnus was gently turning the blade over in his hands, ignoring the vampire’s wistful looks.

“Those are highly illegal,” Alec chimed in. “Very, very illegal.”

“I’m acutely aware,” Magnus replied as he inspected the glowing blue blade for knicks. Finding none, he went through a few test jabs before calling the blade back, satisfied. It had been a long time since he’d pulled the thing out - for the obvious legality reasons, of course.

“They’re known to be incredibly volatile,” Alec continued, crossing his arms. “There are several well-documented explosions.”

“Well, this one is clearly in one piece and has been in my closest for a great number of years without any incidents.” Magnus returned to the bedroom to change into something a little less ostentatious and more in line with hunting demons in the dead of night.

“They’ve been known to explode during use as well.” Alec had questions - a great  _ many _ questions - but right now his number one priority was their safety.

“Only if they are handled by someone incompatible - as long as Simon doesn’t use it, we should have no issues,” he called, searching his wardrobe for something dull and black before finally settling on one of Alec’s shirts.

“Hey...rude,” Simon sounded less disappointed by Magnus’ words and more upset that this would be the closest he’d get to something from his favorite movie and he couldn’t even  _ touch _ it.

“Relax, Alexander. This one was made for me specifically by a very talented warlock who specializes in magical weapons. It’s my magic at its core and I helped by pouring my own blood, sweat, and tears into its production.” Literally, in this case. That had been a miserable few months. “It’s safe for me to handle and it won’t randomly blow up half of New York City, I promise.” He stepped out of the room wearing plain black pants, one of Alec’s nearly faded black shirts, and a black moto jacket. The silver hilt of the spellsword was hanging at his waist. “See, don’t I make a dashing Shadowhunter?”

“You don’t need to dress like a shadowhunter to be dashing, Magnus,” Alec replied, pulling him in for a quick kiss and only breaking apart once Simon cleared his throat. “Alright, are we ready to go? Maybe we’ll get lucky and tonight will be quiet. I might even be convinced to end it at Pandemonium.”

“Where do you even  _ find _ someone to make you a spellsword?” Alec asked, once they were on the street and heading towards the direction of their patrol.

“Why, are you interested in getting one for yourself?” Magnus replied, trying very hard to take his shadowhunting seriously. “You’re missing a key aspect of the whole spellsword thing...magic.” He wiggled his fingers like he would if he had still been able to conjure it.

“No, I’m just curious. And, no offense - you’re sort of missing the magic thing right now too. How does that even still work?”

“Ah yes, that may be true but it’s my magic that powers it. That magic still recognizes me even if I am currently magicless. And Iceland, as a matter of fact. That’s where you find a warlock who can make a spellsword.” Saga Sage didn’t just make spellswords - she could make any number of magical weapons. Most of those were, in fact, illegal. Adding magic to any blade made them a tad temperamental.

“ _ Iceland?” _ Alec seemed surprised by that but Magnus wasn’t entirely sure why.

“Iceland,” he echoed.

“Isn’t that an island? What happens if one goes wrong and it explodes?”

“Then people blame it on one of the volcanoes and move on with their lives, Alexander, but I promise, the warlock who made this blade is quite good at what she does. There were no explosions.” Well, there had been one small one but that had been his fault and Alec didn’t need to know about it. He’d been a little clumsy with his drink and that particular potion had not responded well to the addition of alcohol.

“The Clave is going to want to know where you got that, you know.”

“Tell them a very disgruntled Viking made it for me.” That was  _ mostly _ true, he supposed. Disgruntled she had been. Viking...well, that bit was up in the air. Warlocks weren’t the most truthful bunch.

“I hate to interrupt, but can someone tell me what a spellsword is and how it is in fact,  _ not _ a lightsaber? Because it looks and sounds a lot like a lightsaber.” Simon asked from behind them. He’d been remarkably quiet thus far - Alec had almost forgotten he was there. Almost.

“A spellsword is a blade with a magical core,” Magnus began. “The hilt is crafted and infused with an abundance of spells and a truly ridiculous amount of raw magic. Done right, this lets the user manifest a tangible blade that acts like steel but is, in fact, just magic and, if you find someone who knows what they are doing during construction, you can use said blade to essentially call on a handful of spells as well.”

“So...a lightsaber for warlocks?” Simon asked, jogging a few steps to catch up to them. Alec smirked, knowing full well that the vampire was about to launch into one of his nerd-fueled debates and there was nothing his boyfriend could do to stop him.

“It is  _ not _ a lightsaber for warlocks, “ Magnus grumbled as Alec grabbed his arm and pulled them against the wall. 

“Ravener demons. A pack of them. Simon - stay in the back and out of trouble. Magnus, please try not to blow up New York with your ticking time bomb.” Alec nocked an arrow and held his bow loosely in his hand. Magnus pulled the hilt out and the blade lit up in his hand. He gave them a silent count of three before turning into the alley they’d been about to pass. 

Close combat was not ideal for archery but he managed to loose two arrows because one of the demons managed to get a little too close. He dropped the bow and rolled, pulling his seraph blade out as he did. There was a flash of red above him and a disgusting squelch before the creature that been on top of him fell apart in two perfectly cauterized halves, revealing Magnus with a faint smirk on his face. Alec was impressed, a little terrified, and  _ definitely  _ a little turned on by that. His mind didn’t have time to linger before the remaining two demons lunged towards them. “I’ll take the right, you take the left?” He asked, already moving towards the demon closest to him. 

Taking on one ravener demon was a lot less stressful than taking on the pack. A few slashes and one well-placed jab to the creature’s thorax had it taking its last few twitches on the ground. He turned his attention to Magnus to see if he needed any help and found he’d pinned his against the wall, blue electricity coursing over its body. He pulled his spellsword out and the demon dropped to the ground with a heavy thunk. “Well done.”

“More like deep-fried, wouldn’t you say?” The blade in Magnus’ hand flickered out and he hung the hilt back on his belt.

Alec laughed and wiped the ichor on his blade against a discarded box in the alley. “Everyone okay? No one get stung?” 

“It appears the leather did its job,” Magnus replied, frowning at a scratch down the sleeve of his jacket. “Such a shame though. This is Gucci.”

“That’s your own fault for wearing  _ Gucci _ on patrol. We’re hunting demons, not attending Fashion Week.” Alec turned his attention to the front of the alley to find a shocked Simon clutching his discarded bow. “You alright?”

Simon swallowed and nodded his head before offering the bow back to Alec. “Alright, okay. So...I see your point. That is  _ definitely  _ not a lightsaber.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, Sherwin. It’s  _ much _ cooler.”

**Author's Note:**

> A few notes: 
> 
> Blade out, Magnus' sword is a Pedang Lurus.  
> The sword functions like Magnus explains, two of the spells built into his are fire and electricity which are shown here. In my mind, he's got at least 4 but I didn't feel like including the other two so use your imagination.  
> (And aren't blue lightsabers supposed to be for guardians? Don't kill me, I don't know that much about Star Wars canon.) Title is courtesy of Obi-Wan Kenobi though.
> 
> All in all, thus spun out of an idea of me essentially butchering Mana/Powerblades from Shadowrun. And I really, really wanted to give Magnus a lightsaber.


End file.
